Holding On To You
by VerelLupin
Summary: Lawrence Talbot has been alone his whole life. He's never been able to depend on anyone but he hadn't counted on Gwen Concliffe. She will give him something to hold onto in his darkest hour. Spoilers for the movie. Gwen/Lawrence


**I have no business whatsoever writing another story since I have not updated all my stories in a while but this just got a hold of me and wouldn't let go. **

**Luckily this is a one shot.**

**I do want to do a longer story because a) I love Wolfman b) I love Benecio c) I loved Gwen and Lawrence and d) because I hate messed up endings.**

**Anyway Enjoy...**

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He shouldn't have spied on her; he knew that but she had looked so lonely standing by the river, as lonely as he felt.

Lawrence had always considered himself an honorable man but his latest desires, stemming from that accursed day where she stood all in black fearfully waiting for John Talbot to rescue him, had begun to take a deeper hold of him and giving his mind free rein to indulge in lecherous thoughts of his dear Gwen.

Thoughts that threatened his fragile sanity; tainted the love for his brother and his deep respect for her. Gwen Concliffe, the woman who had already been claimed by Ben Talbot.

Lawrence could only hope it was the beast that was tempting him now.

Today as she had gently cleansed his wounds, he was sure that her heartbeat had accelerated in fear of what he might do to her. He had warred with what remained of himself, leaving her confused and alone.

Lawrence had spent the rest of his night tossing and turning but unable to still the thoughts of her milky white skin uncovered and yielding to him. He dreamt of taking Gwen as his own and damming her as clearly as he was.

It was only when he rose from his bed intent on it that the vision of his mother's mutilated body confronted him in warning. Urging him from his bed not to possess the young woman but to urge her to leave lest the man lose control of the animal and claim not only her body and life but also her very soul.

Lawrence paced the corridors of his ancestral home and while it was the insatiable need of her that had kept him up all night. It was the fear of damaging her that had finally prompted him to leave his room and roam outside hers.

He forced himself to her door unsure of what to say or do to make her see the importance of her leaving Talbot Hall tonight.

He had no illusions as to his fate. The wound had indeed healed and today's barely contained impulse to not shred the men who had come for him only proved that the beast would soon have his moment.

He could not risk Gwen. She had to leave if she was to avoid his family's fate.

Her door loomed just ahead and without any more missteps, Lawrence took courage by the throat. He rapped his knuckles loudly against the heavy door giving himself no excuse to run away. The sounds magnified so that it was as if he was in the room with her.

He picked up the unmistakable sounds of her body leaving her bed, her bare feet as they slid from beneath the sheets and slipped into her slippers. The gentle sigh of her robe as it was draped over her nightgown. And her hair in a heavy plait resettling against her collarbone once her gown was adjusted to the propriety of the hour.

Her door inched open slowly and her face appeared, illuminated by the candlelight she carried. He panted harshly as the scents of her vanilla perfume combined with the aged wood of the door assailed him.

He wondered for a second what she must have seen on his features that made her instantly ask, "What's happened?"

Niceties were forgone in favor of urgency, "you have to leave." He gripped the frame of the door just a little tighter, "please pack your things."

"Did I do something?" she asked, her face a study in sadness that forced him to bite down hard on his tongue to keep from begging her to stay.

"Its not safe here. You must return to London, tonight." He steeled himself, panting harder as his control spiraled out of his hands. "I'll be out here waiting."

He had never expected her to do anything but what he had ordered but then he didn't really know Gwen. "Lawrence. Wait."

He turned to face her. **'It was so much more difficult than earlier. She was so close and it was dark in the hallway. Everyone was asleep, nobody would ever know. She wouldn't even have a chance to scream.'**

"What are you afraid of?" she whispered, her eyes dropping briefly to his now mostly healed lip which he was worrying and in danger of making it bleed anew.

Despite his misgivings he couldn't bare to see the pain of his rejection on her pretty face. His fingers reached out but stopped short of her. "If anything ever happened to you, I would never forgive myself."

She stepped that much closer so that her face was within easy reach of his hand. "You would never hurt me, Lawrence. It isn't like you, no matter what you believe."

He should have left right there or at the very least forced her away. He should have begged the gypsies to let him die but he hadn't and now it was too late to run.

Her palm rested on his chest, "regardless of what is happening within you, you are Lawrence Talbot, and I trust you."

"You shouldn't." he gripped her wrist pulling it off him but not away. "There are things about me that are dark. Things, too improper to even discuss. Feelings that I should not even have. Thoughts that are an affront to my very being, thoughts that I can't seem to push away."

"What kind of thoughts?"

He dropped her hand and moved further down the hallway. "They are disgusting and immoral. They are…not worthy of you."

"Lawrence…"she implored.

"Never did I see myself as anything but a flawed man but this curse has showed me how little goodness there is in me. You were my brother's fiancée and I have forgotten that fact much too quickly. I had hopes of being a friend at one point but I would have never indulged in these thoughts would it not be for the curse that hangs over me. I am not myself, Gwen."

The curse had lifted the veil from his eyes forcing him to confront that Gwen would have been what he had always desired for a wife. He knew that he had fallen once her gaze had settled on him and she asked him to find out the truth of his brother's disappearance.

Deep in his heart, he had hoped to never find out so as to be able to pursue her himself. That was the brutality of the beast, it showed you the forbidden desires that were hidden by polite society and one's own hypocrisy.

"If you hold any regard for me, you will leave." He cupped her face this time, "I cannot protect you… from myself and I don't know how long I will want to."

He never saw it coming, never would have suspected that she had been fighting a similar battle. "Lawrence, I don't want your protection," she said backing up and pulling him with her to the edge of her doorway.

"You cannot force me to leave nor can I force you to stay." She said depositing her candle on the nightstand just within the room and stepping out of its circle of light.

Lawrence gripped the doorway once more at the sight of her shadowy form beckoning him forward. His supernatural strength cracked the paneling but it was not enough to keep him away from her.

Gwen stood slender and still, her body barely visible in the confines of her voluminous night rail. His instincts were held in tight control as he allowed his hands to roam over her plait.

She never took her eyes off him as he slowly undid the braid and ran his fingers through its loose waves. Her hair was softer than he imagined."Gwen…"he croaked but she shook her head moving away from him until she sat at the edge of her bed. Gwen was also bolder than he had ever dreamed. Easily divesting him off his waistcoat and shirt until she could run her hands over his healing skin.

"I undressed you when you were brought back from the moor. I removed the blood and cleaned your skin but I wanted something more but I was unsure of what it was until now. I wanted you." She whispered and she looked down seeming to be ashamed of her forwardness.

Lawrence however was wrong she was not ashamed, she was afraid. "I worried so, worried that you might have been taken from me, like Ben was." She rose and pressed feather light kisses on his wound. "I will not lose you, Lawrence. I cannot bear it, anymore than you sending me away. Talbot Hall is my home, you are part of that no matter how much you fear it."

He shuddered as more kisses were spread over his collarbone and across his chest stopping only to kiss the skin above his thundering heartbeat. "Do not send me away." She whispered and he could feel the hitch in her breathing shake his entire frame.

"Gwen, have a care." He said bending his head to capture her mouth with his. Her lips brushed the cut and it hurt but it felt so right to be holding her so that he did not mind the little bit of pain.

He would endure anything for her. Even accepting what he had no right to want from her. "I do-for you." She breathed just as he buried his hands in her hair and his face in her neck, breathing her in.

She was more beautiful than he had ever dreamed of; more saint and she wanted him. He couldn't seem to wrap his mind around it but Gwen had grown tired and again he was surprised by her boldness.

Her hands roamed over his back and down his spine but he was pulled from his haze of lust by her gasp. He reeled back as if stung. Mistaking her gasp of compassion for one of disgust he immediately turned his back to her. "I must go."

Gwen stood to her full height, which wasn't very impressive given his but she stood proud and straight, nonetheless. "Lawrence, you do not leave without an explanation first." She said placing her hand on his heavily marked back.

"You aren't safe," he said ignoring the small arms that encircled him. "I'm not stable." Her arms slipped from around him. He could already feel the cold at his back as she no doubt retreated to send him on his way. He shouldn't be surprised after all he'd been broken, first by his mother then the so called doctors. He shook the horror of his childhood away and smothered the bitter disappointment of being found lacking in her eyes.

The sudden pressure of her lips against his back startled him.

She was now kissing every one of his scars deliberately lingering over each and every one of them. Brushing her lips over them as if healing them. **'How could she stand the sight enough to touch him?** Astonished he let her and he was further surprised when her fingers danced over them until she reached the top of his trousers.

"You are more than your scars," she said looking up at him with understanding and something else swimming in her eyes-trust. She trusted him. Lawrence did not hesitate to slip the bit of lace off her shoulders revealing the pale warmth he had been fantasizing about for the last few hours.

He gripped her arms one last time, "you must be sure of this. I will not give you up if this goes any further." His deep voice was gravelly and his eyes were so tortured.

She could already tell that he had been a child who had been denied many times. He'd grown up a man used to being alone. "Look at me." She smiled at him and he felt the last of his doubts finally recede.

It took only seconds for him relax his bruising grip on her arms. Only moments for him to walk to her door and lock it, moments to blow out the candle plunging them into darkness.

He stalked her, like prey. He could tell exactly where she was; already the monster inside him was showing his traits. He closed his eyes and followed the rushing of her blood, the adrenaline that was pushing her fight or flight response.

"Where…are-" her voice trembled with desire as his arms wrapped around her narrow waist and he bit her shoulder hard enough to mark her but not to draw blood.

"Here…I am here." He said and spun her so that her wrists were held in his grip, a grip that made her cry out in pain. He loosened his grip aware of how much strength he now had. "I've already begun to change," he apologized.

"I know." she replied but she wasn't struggling to get away. Gwen was struggling to get closer and have him before she lost him completely.

'**The night was getting later and soon daylight would break them apart. He had only now, before the full moon got its claws into him. Last chance at normalcy.'**

"Lawrence…"

That single utterance broke through the self-pity and he kissed her just as hungrily as he'd done earlier. He undid the laces of her remaining gown, kissing her each time more of her perfect skin was revealed. He paused his ministrations to glide the garment down her body until it pooled onto the plush carpet.

Once free of its restraints, her whole body joined against his. He could not silence the moan that came from deep within, he wanted for her to cry out as well. He gently laid her down on the bed, his hand moving up her leg.

He took his time caressing and touching her; learning and memorizing her for when he would be gone from his human self. He covered her lower body with his and she urged him on. Just as desperate for the union as he.

He teased her sensitive skin, his hand slowing to a crawl as it traveled the valley of her breasts and down her stomach before dipping his hand lower. She half rose off the bed, her spine arching into a painful bow. His face broke into a genuine smile and for a moment forgot to think about the curse or his fate.

"Lawrence…I don't…" He looked down at her. Her hair was in complete disarray; her skin was rosy and flushed from his kisses. Her expressive eyes wide with wonder of her own body and what it could be made to feel.

He loved the fact that she looked that way because of him.

He inched up her legs, his mouth kissing every part of her. He rose over her, leaning on his elbows to keep his weight off her. Gwen grasped his shoulders letting her body accustom itself to his warmth. He was poised at her entrance, "Sure?"

Gwen couldn't hold back much longer and she nudged him with her knee. Her legs entwined themselves around his torso unconsciously urging him on. He pushed himself completely into her and winced as he broke through her maidenhead.

She buried her gasp in his shoulders but could not contain the tears that leaked out of her tightly closed eyes. "It will lessen," he said as he began to slowly move inside her. Gwen nodded, trusting him completely.

Soon the aching feeling faded only to build up into something that was squeezing her insides in the most pleasant manner.

"I…" she uttered completely confused as to was happening to her.

He had been glad that he'd had enough restraint to see to her needs before his body began moving beyond his own control. She lifted her hips off the bed instinctively, forcing his thrusts to be less controlled and earning a grunt from him.

One hand slipped into his hair and tugged painfully at the strands, he responded by plunging deeper into her. His hands gripped her hip bruising the delicate skin, imprinting it with his ring. He was so close to the edge and though she had already been pushed over it, he wanted, no needed to take her with him.

The light of the half moon shone through the window giving him an urgency to make Gwen Concliffe a Talbot this very night. To show her that he would always be hers.

He leaned down and captured her mouth effectively keeping their names from echoing around the bedchamber. She held his kiss and he could not have stopped from reciprocating even with her life on the line.

It was this last recollection that kept him from killing her.

"It's Gwen…Lawrence. It's Gwen."

His wolfish eyes appraised her and remembered. Her voice, her body and the love she had professed that night. The kiss that had renewed him after the rampage through London.

Even after the bullet embedded in his gut and he turned back, he remembered and he was glad that she had trusted him. He was glad he had gone to her that night. He was glad that he had not been the monster his father had told him, he was.

He thanked her for proving him wrong about himself and pressed one last proclamation of love entwined with a kiss to her hands.

"Lawrence, please." She sobbed but he was already gone.


End file.
